


Grumpy Little Hawk

by firecracker189



Series: Our Little Family [9]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Baby Steve, Daddy Bucky, Daddy Phil, Gen, Non-Sexual Age Play, aunt maria - Freeform, little clint, mommy Natasha, nsap, teen bruce, teen tony
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-05
Updated: 2018-06-05
Packaged: 2019-05-18 15:00:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14854988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/firecracker189/pseuds/firecracker189
Summary: Tasha's been gone a whole week and Clint's not happy. Phil does his best, and he's a good daddy, but he just...isn't Clint's mommy.





	Grumpy Little Hawk

"That's not how momma does it." 

Phil sighed for the umpteenth time and pinched at his nose. "I know, Clint. But Momma isn't here right now. You're stuck with me and Uncle Bucky until Aunty Maria and Momma get home, remember?" he cut the grilled cheese into quarters and set it in front of Clint. "Now will you please eat your sandwich while I go get Tony? He hasn't eaten anything in a couple days, and I"m worried about him." 

Moodily, Clint reached for his plate, only eating the grapes though. The sandwiches didn't taste the same if they weren't in triangles! He kicked his feet angrily.

Cursing mentally to himself, Phil ignored Clint's antics for the time being and put the knife into the dishwasher, heading over to the elevator. "JARVIS, tell Bucky he's on duty for a bit. I'm going down to the lab to roust out Tony." 

 _I'll let him know, Agent Coulson._ A moment later JARVIS chimed softly.  _Bucky says he is dressing Steve after his bath, but they will be right up to the kitchen once he's through. Apparently  he attempted to let Stevie fingerpaint and it got everywhere._

 The elevator stopped just outside the lab and Phil stepped off, sighing to himself. "JARVIS, please tell me this will be easy. That he'll come without a fight." 

A rather wry sounding reply met his ears as JARVIS unlocked the doors, overriding Tony's security protocols.  _I cannot say that, I'm afraid, Phil. I have a feeling that a sleep deprived, coffee fueled Sir might prove a bit hard to handle. Especially given I have just overridden his express orders not to let anyone into the lab until he was finished with his upgrades to everyone's weapons systems._

Phil sighed. "Great. Thanks." Now he was going to have two bratty littles on his hands. He strode confidently into the room, wincing as the blaring sounds of AC/DC met his ears. "Not that I don't appreciate 'Shoot To Thrill', but maybe it's just a tad too loud!" He shouted over the din, as Tony's welding mask flew up. 

"JARVIS, I thought I told you to not let anyone in. Do my eyes deceive me, or is that a person?" he pointed with his torch, a few sparks flying in Phil's direction. 

 _Agent Coulson required access, Sir._ JARVIS' tone was patronizing as he faded out the music.  _He thought it necessary to check in on you given the fact that it has currently been around 72 hours since your last proper sleep and meal._

"That's right. I did." Phil advanced on Tony and put on his most 'Shield Issue' face. "Now are you coming with me the easy way or do I have to turn this into a more difficult situation?" 

Tony stared for a moment, gloved thumb hovering over the button on the side of the torch as he debated his options. He knew Phil wouldn't leave, and if he locked him out he'd just override the protocols and come right back in again. His stomach grumbled loudly, and the spot on his arm where he'd burned himself due to clumsy sleep deprived muscles stung. After a good few moments he put the torch down, reaching up to take off his mask. 

"Good choice," Phil nodded at him. "I've already got to deal with Clint being grumpy. I'd hate to add you to that list." He waited patiently until Tony had taken off his gloves and mask and set them on the table. "That hurt?" he asked, pointing at the ugly red mark on Tony's forearm. 

Tony nodded sheepishly, stifling a yawn. 

"I'll get it cleaned and wrapped up when we get back upstairs. Then I want you to eat something and head straight to bed." He put a supporting arm around Tony's shoulders as they entered the elevator together. 

Surprisingly, the easier party to deal with was actually Tony, who once he'd eaten his sandwich and let Phil treat and wrap his burn, went right to bed without complaint. JARVIS even confirmed it by showing Phil live feed of the bedroom. He hovered just outside the living room and sighed. "Give me strength." he murmured softly as he stepped out to survey what he hoped wouldn't be utter chaos. 

"Wow." his brows rose. "I can't believe you got him to play nice." he told Bucky, watching as Clint built a tower with some Legos, Stevie sitting beside him in the play pen. 

"It was touch and go for a while," Bucky admitted. "He's still pretty out of sorts about Natalia being gone. But once Stevie started crying, that was all it took. The little manipulator." Bucky smiled and shook his head fondly. "Even Clint's not immune to his crocodile tears." 

Phil sat down on the sofa with a groan and watched as Clint handed a red brick to Stevie, who looked confused for a moment until Clint tapped at the base of the tower he'd snapped together. Then the baby perked up and seemed to get the idea, clumsily putting it on top, though he didn't have quite the dexterity needed to snap it into place. Clint looked put out as he snapped it into place and put on a few others, pushing Stevie's hands out of the way. 

"Let the baby play too, Clint," Bucky reminded softly, and Clint obliged, sulkily handing a block to Steve. 

"This might not go so well," Phil said under his breath, and Bucky hummed as he watched them. 

Sure enough, once the two had constructed an entire tower, Clint smashed it to pieces, Legos going everywhere and hitting poor Stevie in the face, making the baby wail and start to cry in surprise and pain. 

Bucky rushed to soothe the baby, while Phil gripped at Clint's arm and hauled him out of the room. "Clinton Francis Barton!" he hissed. "What have we told you about playing with the baby! I've told you a thousand times, he's littler than you, you can't play rough with him, and he doesn't understand!" Phil turned Clint around forcibly and stared into his mutinous gaze. "I hope you know this means you're in time out, and you have to apologize to Stevie and Uncle Bucky later." 

Clint's eyes flashed and he stomped his foot angrily. "NO!" he burst out. "No, no, no, no, NO!" He wrenched his arm out of Phil's grasp and made a mad dash for the door. It took all of Phil's highly trained reflexes for him to get over there and grab him before he successfully got away. 

Manhandling him so that they were once again face to face, Phil sighed and reminded himself to tamp down on his own anger lest he hurt the little one's feelings too badly. "We don't say no to grownups, and we most certainly do not yell in the tower." he reminded for the billionth time. "Now you can either cooperate now and go for ten minutes in the corner, or you can run away again and get three swats and time in the corner." He'd already doubled the normal amount of time spent in time out for yelling and being rebellious. He didn't want to have to add swats on top of it. 

Clint appeared to be thinking, eyes sulky before he blurted out almost as if he couldn't help it, "Momma doesn't do that." 

"I'm not Momma." Phil reminded, as he hauled Clint to the corner and pointed. "Nose in the corner. JARVIS will keep count, and if you leave that spot you have to start over." 

Clint looked damn near murderous, but complied out of interest to his time. If he didn't do what Papa said, he'd just keep starting him over until he caved and did what Papa wanted. 

The entire ten minutes Phil didn't take his eyes off JARVIS' projected clock. It was always agony whenever he had to punish one of the kiddos, even the bigger ones. As soon as the timer went off, Phil was off like a shot, lifting Clint up and petting his hair softly. Clint clung to him and sniffled pathetically. "I know, honey. I know you're sorry. I know." It took him a while to calm his upset boy, but once he finally did, Clint seemed to be repentant for the moment. 

Phil held a tissue to his nose and Clint blew softly. 

Once the momentary storm blew over, everyone gathered back into the living area and to Phil's surprise things went smoothly. Until bedtime. 

He took his eyes off Clint for a couple minutes to help Tony re-dress his arm, and when he returned Clint had taken his marker set to the walls, writing every bad word he knew. (Perhaps there was some of Big Clint in there, acting out through Little Clint because he missed Natasha?)

"Clint!" Phil's voice was thunderous as Tony lurked behind Phil's shoulder and hid his face in his arm--trying his hardest to suppress his laughter. "Clinton Francis!" Phil strode forward, looking angry and absolutely exhausted. 

"No! No, NO!" Clint flung his marker down and screamed at the top of his lungs, fighting Phil. Phil took an elbow to the solar plexus and wheezed, doubling over as Clint made for the exit but was blocked by Tony. 

"Lemme GO!" Clint squirmed, pushing hard at Tony's immovable form. All that blacksmithing had given him a rather formidable set of muscles everyone tended to forget about until he actually used force against them. 

"I can't do that, little bird." Tony said quietly as Phil straightened painfully."I think you owe several apologies. You wrote on the walls, wrote bad words, and hit Pops. You've been very naughty today." 

"You don't even know the half of it," Phil told him as he approached the pair. "Before you came up he threw blocks at Stevie and had a tantrum because i cut his sandwich wrong." 

"Tasha does triangles," Tony said helpfully. "Just tastes better that way." Clint nodded his agreement, still squirming in Tony's hold. Tony let go of him and Clint stood sulkily, knowing he wouldn't be able to get away. 

"I've heard." Phil said dryly. "Clint, say you're sorry and Tony will take you to get your bath. I'm tired of your attitude. You're going to be getting four swats for hitting and for using bad language, not to mention drawing on the walls." 

"Noooo!" Clint whined plaintively, teary eyed. "I'll be good, Papa, promise! No more!!" 

"It's too late for that, Clint," Phil said sadly. "Come here." he bent him over and swiftly landed four hard swats over his pants. Clint howled like he'd been shot, righting himself as soon as Phil let go and shooting over to Tony, clinging to him like his big brother would save him. 

"I won't say you didn't deserve it." Tony said softly, bundling Clint upstairs. 

Phil had his work cut out, cleaning up the walls while Tony took care of Clint. By the time he got back upstairs to the nursery floor, Bucky was curled protectively around Stevie as he rocked him in the rocking chair, letting him nurse at his nighttime bottle. "Nat called," Bucky spoke softly. "They're on the way home. Should be here in a couple hours. Bruce says he's staying over at Betty's tonight." 

"Good for him," Phil smiled and Bucky winked back. 

"Hope it goes well," Bucky remarked as Stevie finally drifted off to sleep. 

Another yelp sounded from the bathroom. "I better go make sure he doesn't drown Tony." Phil lamented as Bucky tucked Steve into his crib. 

Tony was dripping wet, Clint grinning from ear to ear as he sat in the tub. "Clint, don't splash your brother," Phil chided wearily. "Tony, go change. You're free to go to bed. I'll handle him." Tony slipped out gratefully, and Phil knelt down. "Little bird, you're so much trouble today. Why is that?" he asked softly, scrubbing at Clint's hair. 

Clint shrugged. "Don' feel good. Not right when Momma's gone." he said sadly. 

"Momma's gone, and you're upset because she isn't here?" Phil clarified, and Clint looked absolutely grief stricken.

"Miss 'er," he mumbled as Phil helped him stand up and wrapped him in a fluffy towel. 

"I know, honey. But it hurts my feelings you don't think Papa will take care of you." Phil said honestly as he dried him off and helped him into his pull-up and pajamas. No nighttime accidents here. Phil led him to his room and tucked him into bed. "Momma will be home soon." he kissed Clint's head and wandered back down to the kitchen where Bucky was having a night cap. 

"Cocoa?" 

"Please," phil dropped into a chair, exhausted, and Bucky soon had a warm mug sitting in front of him. "Thanks." 

"You look dead beat, Phil. What happened up there?" 

"He um. He's acting out since Nat's gone. Doesn't seem to think that I can take care of him as well as she can, despite him calling me Papa." Phil sipped at the cocoa as if it were an alcoholic beverage. 

Bucky whistled softly. "That's pretty harsh, Phil. I'm sorry. Give him time. He does love you, he's just...more favoring Tasha right now. Kids do this all the time. In another week, I'm sure he'll be favoring you to her." 

Phil still felt uneasy about it, but better since the cocoa had warmed his belly. "Mm. Maybe. I just don't know." He pushed back and mumbled a good night to Bucky, wandering on auto pilot to his bed and stripping down, curling up under the blankets. A deep purring sounded and soon a warm furry body was tucked against his stomach. At least Liho knew he was upset. "Nice kitty." he mumbled sleepily, letting her purrs soothe him to sleep. 

Maybe things would even out soon.

Maybe Clint would love him again tomorrow. 


End file.
